carry or crawl?

06-04-2008, 01:43 PM

I was carrying my baby in a wrap since he was ~2month... he's now 7months. I usually have him on me when I do chores or run errands... so I would say about 4-5hrs a day average. He's now crawling and likes to move about... and I find that he kicks a lot in the wrap wanting to go off to explore... I guess that makes him happy (crawling around)... but I find it hard to cook supper AND look after him. At the same time, I feel bad tying him up on my back when he wants to go about on the floor. Anyone have the same probs? What creative ways have you come up with to tackle this?

I have found that with babies and young children, I really need to cut back on my expectations for what I ought to be able to accomplish in a day. It helps if I remind myself that my JOB is to take care of the kids. Anything else I happen to get done is a bonus.

Dinner doesn't usually get cooked around here until my husband comes home from work, when one of us can watch the kids and the other can cook. I'm sure that'll change in another six months or so, when I would hope that my younger child will have enough impulse control to make cooking with him in the learning tower less frustrating.

If it's important to you to continue to do things like cook dinner while you're also supervising your baby, I'd suggest making sure the space you're in is as baby-proofed as possible, so he can explore in reasonable safety while you work. If that level of babyproofing isn't possible, you might consider investing in a Superyard (or similar item), so you could temporarily erect a confined, safe space for him to play in.

You might also try reorganizing your tasks. I find that cooking, for example, can be more manageable if it's broken up into 10-minute chunks throughout the day. A crock pot works really well for this, but you can also just do prep work as you have time, so everything is in the fridge and ready to be combined into the finished product at the right time.

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My 8-month old is very mobile, too, and I can relate to trying to cook and keep up with a little one. I have retired the wrap and now have him in the sling. He likes being on my hip/back (behind my arm) as I cook. He peers around to see what I'm doing. I also make sure he has something in his hands to play with--measuring spoons, plastic spice container, wooden spoon, whatever he might like that is handy. He watches everything and seems to momentarily forget his desire to be mobile.

That's what we do. HTH!

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My 8 month old is not only crawling but now pulling himself up and cruising the furniture! Its virtually impossible to get too much done during the day at the moment. He will happily be in the wrap/sling for about 15min before he is struggling and whining to get out (unless we are out at the shops or something)! Its great that he is so confident and comfortable to explore on his own but as you say it does make it harder. My life saver is a wonderful husband who takes on more than his fair share since he is working all day as well. I guess we have just got the the point where the house work is secondary, as long as the floor is clean enough so that he isnt picking up bits of fluff and dirt everywhere and the kitchen and bathroom are kept under as much control as possible then we are happy. It looks like a bomb in this house at times and I know that my mother is certain we are a bunch of hippies! It will get easier as they get more independent!

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Gosh, I'm just starting to go through this too. Thats what is so wonderful about this forum She isn't crawling yet, but she much prefers sitting and playing to being in her sling, and she wants me down there with her too. I've gone from really keeping up with the housework to barely getting anything done. I'm lucky somedays if I even get to have a shower. And what's worse, she won't let anyone else hold her, not even her dad.

I just keep saying, ''its just a phase, its just a phase''.

It helps knowing that im not alone.

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When my son was that age, and I really wanted to cook dinner--I would make sure to be as active as possible when he was in the sling to keep him happy. I'd hand him something while he was on my back (measuring spoon, ladle, etc.) and add an ingredient or two and then walk quickly to the other end of the house and do something there--or walk in and out of the house. And I sang to him, told him elaborate stories, etc.

If I couldn't keep him happy, I would just put dinner on hold and wait until my husband came home.

I really love that prep work idea and I think I'm going to use it I hadn't even thought of doing just a few minutes here and there, I think that could really help

Also, another thing I do is cook big meals that could feed us several times over, every time I cook a meal. After dinner (or sometimes before to keep us from eating too much), I put them into individual servings and freeze (because you can always pile a few together if you want a family meal again). This way you can have leftovers 2 weeks from now when it feels new again... and much less cooking!